Salar de Uyuni

A lot of the Salar de Uyuni tours include an early-morning drive out across the salt flats--largest in the world, and around 12,000 ft. high--but there's a far more satisfying way to enjoy the other-worldly light show.

We stayed in a salt-block hotel on the mud-flats along the Salar's edge, and after willing ourselves out of bed in the punishing pre-dawn chill of the Altiplano, we strolled out onto the perfectly flat expanse of salt. By the time we got as far as we dared go--you never want to lose sight of buildings, as people do get lost--we could see 4x4s in the distance shuttling their charges out for a glimpse of sunrise. But from our vantage point, all was silent and perfectly still--especially the water, which at this time of year forms a mirror some 200km square.